TAMPA, Fla. — A fundraiser aims to aid Rachelle Smith, a Tampa Bay area mom who is fighting to get her son Dexter back from overseas.
It has been eight months since his father, Ali Salamey, fled with the boy to Lebanon, a direct violation of his court-ordered visitation rights.
Since then, Smith has been working with the U.S. and Lebanese governments to get her son back to Florida. Because Lebanon is not a signatory of the Hague Convention of International Child Abductions, they do not extradite wanted suspects to the U.S.
Friends of Rachelle set up the fundraiser Saturday at Dagwoods Sports Tavern to help her cover expensive legal costs. Over $3,000 worth of goods have been donated to raffle off.
Organizers hope this will provide much-needed support to Smith.
“She really needs help to try to pay for the expenses of bringing him back home, the lawyers and stuff. So, she got to the point where she was like selling furniture. We can’t let our best friend do that," explained Lisa Sedor, co-organizer of the Bring Dexter Home Fundraiser Event. "So we went through and got a hold of a lot of different people. And you see that we have tons of people that have helped us. Donating different things to raffle off, which is amazing, I love that.”
Smith works at the restaurant and was also there supporting the event, but she was unable to speak to us because of the sensitive nature of her ongoing case.
She recently met with Gabriel Issa, the Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S, in Miami, and she says Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has also been receptive to her case.
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